ACT NOW ISRAEL!
The time's come for Israel to act. Swiftly. Decisively.Hamas is on a non-negotiable path to all out war. That's what they want. Let me repeat my mantra - WATCH THE ACTIONS NOT THE WORDS. The daily kassams into Gaza aren't enough to prove this? Then how about years & years of broken promises and 'negotiating' while they continue to arm themselves.
While a Gaza invasion would costly for the IDF, something has to happen or Hamas will continue to bleed Israel while arming for its annihilation.
Time for action, Israel.
The temptation of immediate fortification
By Israel Harel
The education minister said that opening the school year in Sderot is conditional on the defense minister's signing a guarantee for the pupils' security. The angry response to her statement - to the effect, "why doesn't she guarantee to rid schools of violence?" - is unjustified.
However, it is justified to demand - after eight years of Qassam rockets - that the pupils and their parents be safe in their classrooms and homes. Tamir's demand to solve the problem by fortification "according to the fortification standard set by the High Court of Justice," is, however, unjustified.
Those who put their trust in fortification ignore the experience of our nation and entire society throughout history, which teaches that there are no walls or other fortifications that can ensure long-term protection from a determined, resourceful enemy. Although every cadet in the officer's school probably recites the mantra that the best defense is offense, many in Israel, including members of the cabinet and the Israel Defense Forces, are tempted to believe that fortification is the best offense.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak has consistently supported building our own Maginot Line, which is the wall/fence. In his recent speeches, Barak promised that in addition to the security that the wall will provide, in three to five years we will also have rockets intercepting the Qassams.
The idea to develop these rockets reflects the strategy and consciousness of the minister and other supporters of the project, who want to avoid ground operations. In essence, Barak's concept is no different than that of former chief of staff Dan Halutz, who believed the air force would provide an answer to Hezbollah's rocket alignment.
After the havoc that the Katyusha rockets wreaked on the North for years, and after about eight years of Qassam fire in the Negev, few would dare to criticize the costly, superfluous project, which did not follow a serious, conceptual and professional debate.
A lot of money has been poured on both tactics, fortification and interception. If anything, they will only prompt the enemy to find a more effective, lethal attack method.
The fortification school of thought began with the terror attack on the Jewish community in 1936-1939. It was proven then that the tower-and-stockade (homa umigdal) method was incapable of stopping deadly attacks on the community. People started demanding an assault.
Israel Prize laureate, the poet and journalist Natan Alterman, spoke out in a poem against the policy of seclusion and restraint. The turning point in the approach was spearheaded by British Major General Orde Charles Wingate. Only when the protectors dared to leave the fenced compound and move from defense to offense did the gangs lose their initiative. Moreover, the Jewish community's morale soared.
The Shin Bet security service says 40 tons of explosives, hundreds of rocket launchers and other weapons have recently been smuggled into the Gaza Strip. Only frequent, massive and daring in-depth operations, not fortifications, will prevent the production of rockets and bombs from the smuggled material.
Intercepting rockets and helicopter attacks strike at the margins of the enemy's capability. Comprehensive ground operations obstruct its alignments.
When the IDF overcomes the psychological block preventing it - as happened in the first fatal months before Operation Defensive Shield and in the month of messing around in the Second Lebanon War - from deploying ground forces in the appropriate frequency and power, it will regain its deterrence potential against enemies far more powerful than Hamas' gangs in the Gaza Strip.
Only when the Qassam manufacturing plants are destroyed and the operators captured or hit will the western Negev have relief. Immediate fortification will no longer be necessary then, nor will there be a request for the defense minister to sign a commitment to the pupils' security.
SOURCE
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